BastardOfWinterfell

Sorry man, this episode was so painful I have kind of lost hope for the rest of the series. And as a preempt, I am not a book "purist", but I do love the story and character dynamics, and to be honest, the HBO series has kind of wrecked a lot of the dynamic that was dear to me, and can only be something vaguely similar in plot to ASoIaF for me at this point, and I thought season 1 was great. What is great about the book series is after all the characters and their dynamics, without this, the series is just any other fantasy plot (and GRRM himself acknowledges this). Let's go over what was so wrong with episode 7: 1) Jaimeanderthal - His murder was extremely out of character for him. Some of you have been like "ZOMGZ BUT HE KICKED A BABBY OUT OF A TOWER THATS WORSE CUZ BABBYS R CUTE". Please, killing bran was an inescapable necessity for preserving his love life and the kingslayer part -- need we mention Aerys was a MAD KING who burned people alive in his throne room, and was highly unfit to rule? What Jaime would do for love... well, I can tell you killing his cousin was not (nor was it portrayed as such) killing "for love", it was killing because he was greedy (or "evil") -- and that is completely out of character for him. Jaime is awesome, and a great character has now been ruined. 2) Tywin-or-you-die-or-you-give-Arya-your-dinner - A man who would have a full barracks of women rape a woman of lower class to prove to his son that all women of lower class are whores in that they want a lord for their money -- this type of man would not give a serving girl his meal. He would certainly not COMPARE his daughter to a serving wench. 3) Cersei-iously? What happened to the self-entitled spoiled princess in her? What happened to the one who in the future does very mean things to her brother she seemingly bonds with (or is willing to cry in front of.....) There is a reason why Cersei actually crying for the first time in the series feel cathartic -- and that's because she would never boohoo like she did in episode 7. 4) Ygritte-my-teeth-in-exasperation: Well, let's let it slide that the actual development of the love story is butchered. "You know nothing Jon Snow" was for me a metaphor for the clash of civilizations their impossible love tryst is, not a metaphor for "You aint never felt me warm wet soft innards ye crow". To be quite blunt, she came off more like a whore from in Kings Landing than an strong experienced battle-worn independent wildling. 5) Don't-Shae-Nuthin-To-Nobody-Or-I'll-use-this-butterknife-to-make-you-toast: For those of you who recall Shae's later actions, you know this was not only stupid of her but also out of character for her to try to "save" Sansa (How wrong is it to think of the Unreal style announcement "First Blood!" during the Sansa scene?). Not to mention she really doesn't have any incentive to -- she's a whore/servant, since when did she have loyalty? And fine, fine fine! She is a loyal whoreservant. Then PLEASE explain to me where this loyalty of hers goes in aDoD? She is more loyal to a random princess she serves than a lord who has given her all of what she has, and is even loyal to her? Or are they going to ruin that love story as well!? So, yeah. As another preempt to the insecure Anti Criticism League, I DO like what the series overall did with Greyjoy, Arya, Sansa, Brienne, C aetlyn. So please don't try to pull that "This guy is just in a sour blue balls mood and is taking it out on the internet, haterz gonna hate" lines to dismiss any valid articulate criticisms of the HBO series, PARTICULARLY this season. It's dropped it's standards pretty low.

I realize I represent the minority here but--I WISH the Ygritte was more like the one in the books, a tough disheveled experienced folksy "obnoxious" warrior. I loved her the way she was in the books, and I feel like the version on the show is kind of a pretty eye-shadow-bearing sanitized version designed to appeal to most of us today. I just -- that's not really who she IS, and I think what's awesome about the book is being able to mold together and establish the very tension between the opposites in John Snow and Ygritte. Being able to accept and appreciate the love they feel for each other, despite being so very different in so many regards. And I really don't think Ygritte is that obnoxious, "You know nothing John Snow" makes sense to me, coming from a lady who has been trained to survive in the harshest environment in the seven kingdoms. Wouldn't YOU feel the same way, confronted with somebody who had it relatively easy, who had so many opinions that disagreed with the ones you were raised with? I wanted a more authentic wildling in Ygritte, and I think that's crucial to the love story unfolding between them. When Jon Snow (SPOILER ALERT) realizes she is dead, I don't want to feel like I'm watching the ending of the Titanic -- because it's not so simplistic. It's that Jon Snow simply cannot ultimately overcome the cultural barrier between him and a wildling -- not just because they are on two sides of the war, but also because they are two very different personalities. He knows he cannot trust her. I'm rambling. As for Tywin -- very similar views here. It's not that I dislike the Tywin scenes, but I do call into question whether it REALLY is Tywin Lannister showing respect and interest to a servant. This is the guy who had a full barracks of men rape a woman his son married because she was simply not royalty, in order to embed a sense of discrimination in his son. Tywin's message - there are rulers, and there are ruled, and if you are a ruler, then any woman not of royalty is a whore (after your riches), and this is to make sure you NEVER make the mistake of bridging that divide. So... Yes, there is grey in ASoIaF, but different shades of grey: Tywin WAS a very prejudiced man, and that makes perfect sense given the inevitably hierarchical medieval Machiavellian setting he lived in, and I do think people should appreciate that, or at the very least be exposed to it. That system of oligarchical conquest persisted for a while... it didn't change much until the rapid advances in the economy and in weapon technology which created less incentive and a sort of deterrent to non-stop conquest (no longer needed to plunder others to have enough natural resources, and the risk was higher), and also decentralized protection; protection which peasants formerly heavily relied on the ruling class to provide. There are these notions we often have of "uncivilized", "racist", "classist", or "sexist" just being an unfortunate *happenstance* of the past, rather than realizing their existence and early development were (pretty much) inevitable and "logical" outcomes given historical context. I feel like the book/author strongly embodies this sentiment, which I think ultimately represents appreciating "grey" in all the characters--NOT this "everybody has a good heart" rubbish that seems to be a common TV series pitch these days. So... yeah I'd like to see Ygritte and Tywin a little LESS endearing, the way they were in the books. :P Doubt many will read this, but feel free to PM me if you disagree!

I don't know, I really liked the Arya story after Yoren dies but before they get captured... I think it helped portray some of her growth and leadership, as well as add to the theme her plotline has of escape and being recaptured... as one of my favorite plotlines I'd rather they not tinker with it if they can help it :(